Lost in his embrace

Chapter 5.2

I languidly pick up the ball across the floor. I bounce it back and forth. I count up to one hundred in my head whenever it touches back my palm. When nothing happens, I toss it away. It makes a sound as it bounces and goes beneath a wooden table.

I stand up from the sofa and decide to head for the kitchen. I immediately halt when my phone buzzes with a message in my hand. It's mom. She says she'll be home late. I send my reply and heave a sigh of frustration. I head back in the foyer with a cup of coffee in my hand. I put the cup on the table across and slump my back on the sofa. I place my phone beside the cup. I glance at it every minute hoping it will buzz up with his message but two hours have already passed, nothing even happened. I didn't receive a text nor call from him.

I stand up, pick the ball underneath the table and slump my butt across the sofa again. I spin the ball on top of my index finger. It falls after five seconds. It makes a thud sound when it hits the floor. I kick it with my foot and it goes back again beneath the table. Some of my coffee spill across the table as the ball hits the stretcher. I forgot to drink it and It's probably cold by now.

I'm starting to get worried already. I wish nothing bad had occurred to him. I didn't see him after that day when he texted me. I have texted him many times already. I want to reach out his friends but I don't have their contact numbers and he won't let that happen either—I mean he will surely get mad at me if he would find out. So, I shove that idea away. I run my hands in my hair and heave a sigh of irritation. I'm not mad I'm just worried. I don't want to think negatively but I can't help myself and he can't blame me for worrying so much.

My phone suddenly buzzes across the table and I feel my face light up in anticipation. I pick it up. I feel my heart beat rapidly against my ribcage as I hold my the phone but it's Britney. She texts me that we're going to meet tomorrow. I went to their house yesterday just to find out that she's not home. I didn't linger longer in their place. Her parents said that Britney was with her friends and she would not go home for two days. That hurts me a little. I didn't know she has another closed friends aside from me.

I slump my back after I send my reply. I close my eyes, put my hand on the back of my head and rest my feet against the table.

I can't believe it's happening. Where is he now? I glance at the clock and it's near nine p.m already and I haven't had my dinner yet. I head for the kitchen as I hear my stomach growl in hunger. I see my older brother going down the stairs, He doesn't have his shirt on while he has a laptop in his hand.

I greet him.

I have two older brothers and they just went home earlier at around four p.m. After they graduated from college, They take over some of our businesses. He gives me a smile and ruffles my hair before he heads straight to the couch.

“Hermanito, Can you make your brother a sandwich?” He says as he puts his laptop across the table and sits on the sofa. He reaches out the TV remote and turns on the TV. He puts a cushion on the back of his head before he settles himself on the couch and leans his head against the arm of the couch.

“Do you want it with cabbage?”

He turns on his side, looks over the back of a couch and arches his head on his palm as he rests his elbow on the arm. “Whatever you want. I just want something to fill my stomach."

“With cabbage, then.” I head to the kitchen. I grill poitrine fumee, It's a French bacon, before I put each on the sandwich. My stomach growls as its savory smell makes its way inside my nostrils.

I can hear Damien, my older brother, the one in the foyer, watch basketball because its noise reaches here in the kitchen.

After that, I put cabbage on top of it. I decide to make five sandwiches. It's after fifteen when when I finish I cooking.

“Are you going to pick mom up?” He asks as he munches his sandwich while he leans his back against the couch.

“No, She says she's going to be with dad today.”

He pulls his leg on his chest. “Where's your boyfriend? You only brought him once to us.” he brings his gaze back to the TV as he waits for me to answer.

I like how nonchalant he is even though I didn't anticipate the question.

My family is very supportive to our relationship since from the start. They always ask about us particularly my mom; She giggles every time I mention Tyler to her. And they didn't even react much when I came out in front of them.

I try not to choke on my sandwich before I gather myself to come up with better lies. “We're both tied up with our study but he promised to come visit here tomorrow.” He did not promise anything and that's so stupid of me, I shouldn't have said that. How can I make him come here tomorrow when I don't even know his whereabouts.

Where does he go?! He better contact me now.

I grab a sandwich across the table so that he can't see my expression as he brings his attention back to me.

I see his face brighten. “We'll be expecting him tomorrow, then.” I give him a forced smile. He asks about my studies, cracks jokes occasionally and a lot more as the TV keeps on talking in the background. I head in the kitchen to bring the empty plate in the sink and glasses. I wash it before I head back to the foyer. I glance at the clock and I see it's already ten p.m.

His attention is now on his laptop. “Hermanito, ask mom where are they now,” He says as his eyes are still focused on his laptop. My brothers are used to call me hermanito since I was a child. It means little brother in spanish.

“She said they are already on their way home,” I say as I take a seat across him.

He only nods.

A while later, he says goodnight to me, pats my shoulder before he goes back upstairs. My siberian cat suddenly comes nuzzling her furry body above my uncle. I pick it up and put it on my lap. My lips stretch into a smile as I tickle her stomach, he gently bits my fingers and pushes them off her. I pick her off my lap before I gently put her beside me. I see her roll on her back before she cutely licks her paws. Tyler gave it to me when she was just super tiny. He said her mother died two weeks after she was born and she could even barely walk.

“Where's Tyler?" She licks my hand, Which I think is her response. What's that supposed to mean?

I pinch her furry cheek before I stand up and go over the other couch across. I pull my shirt over my head before I settle myself on the couch. I play an online game on my phone before I feel my eyes suddenly feel heavy in their sockets.

It's a while later when I hear someone turn off the TV. It's my parents. They arrive at home rather very late. I hear them talk but I'm too drowsy to comprehend and process what they are saying. However, I notice there is one another familiar voice talking but I'm thoroughly sleepy to recognise whose voice is it.

I turn on my side, bring my knees up to my stomach. I feel someone sit beside me because the couch shakes a bit. My mom nudges my shoulder gently, trying to wake me up but I just groan as my eyelids feel heavier than they are earlier.

I fumble for my blanket across my feet to pull it up my head but I can't feel it anywhere. I groan and kick my feet in irritation. I remember I fell asleep in the living room. Why didn't they wake me up? I try to feel for the table across to pick my phone up while my eyes are still closed. And once again, I groan as I fall down the floor with a thud. I can feel my arm redden beneath my stomach in pain. I reach my phone across the table and languidly bring myself back on the couch. My screen burns my eyes as I turn it on. I see it's still eight in the morning. I usually wake up around ten during weekends.